Island Installation

July 26, 2016

Still from Island.

Island, a video installation (a public art project commissioned by the City of Richmond, BC ) is now permanently installed at the Britannia Shipyards National Historic Site.
It is an artwork co-produced with artist Faith Moosang. It was originally presented in a shipping container as part of the YK Media Arts Festival. Thanks to Brooke Lees, Curator and Eric Fiss, Public Art Planner.

Deanne Achong and Faith Moosang took a boat trip around Lulu Island, Richmond and filmed the island from the vantage point of the Fraser River. From the footage captured they created a video loop that echoes the journey they took. Large-scale industry and gorgeous vistas exist side by side on the periphery of Lulu Island. The edge of the island reveals its specific and still unfolding history– from wilderness through agriculture to resource extraction.

The sound track uses a blend of an 1888 wax cylinder recording of Handel’s Israel in Egypt and a 1934 version conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham. The Handel wax cylinder is one of the earliest recorded sounds in audio history. The recording is a tenuous representation of the Oratorio that is not obviously music – slipping into sounding like drums, trains, machinery and even wildlife.

The artists would like to dedicate this installation to their cameraman (and sailor), Rob Simpson, who passed away suddenly in 2015.